It had been a hectic week. No, not even that, it had been a very hectic month . With Rachel's decision to open her boutique in New York (and not Toronto like Lee had thought she would), they had made a week long trip to the city to get things started, and then came the move. Lee's second international move with a young child. Not the easiest thing at the best of times, but even less easy when you were trying to start a new business at the same time.

But they were moved in now, Kevin was registered for school, and everything seemed to be falling into place. At least as much as it ever did for Lee. But there was one more thing that Lee needed to do before they started in with their new routine: a mummy son day.

So after breakfast, and then a stop to grab coffee, her 6 year old’s hand in hers as they walked down the street, Lee led Kevin to a nearby park. Most kids were in school, it was a Wednesday morning, after all, so the park didn't have as many children as it might have had. But there were kids, even if the next oldest in the park was a year younger than Kevin.

But that didn't seem to bother Kevin; as soon as she released him to go play, he ran off to the playground. Lee just stood on the path sipping her coffee and watched her son as he ran around and went down the slide. After a minute or two, Lee made her way to a bench to sit down. She had at least 5 minutes before Kevin came over she figured, lots of time to enjoy her coffee in peace.

Nobody told him in school that you only end up doing cpr on people who are already dead. He'd had three people code in transit tonight. Three. They didn't even have one emergency per evening on a usual night, though they always had transfers and shuttles even though (or maybe especially because) his was the night shift. Three emergencies meant he'd been ratcheted up. Three codes meant he'd been wound tight. Three losses made it all seem a bit pointless.

AJ slammed the passenger side door of N-2 after he'd gathered his gear and finished his paperwork, made a grumpy excuse to the next shift, and squinted against the rising sun.

The sun coming up was supposed to be hope and all that crap. It didn't help until he realized that the sun cresting the skyscraper horizon meant that coffee shops and doughnuts were in full swing and peddling fresh caffeine. He didn't feel like sleeping. He was too wound up. He felt like slowing down and taking a moment to breathe was a wise course of action. Maybe the healthiest, too.

It was no Tim Horton's, but for today it had to do.

With more sugar than was healthy, AJ took a tentative seat on a bench next to a mum who was nursing her own coffee. Two bags of Timbits doughnut holes was two more than he needed, but he'd had a coupon in his email and apparently he could not resist a deal.

What the **** was he going to do with all this sugar? AJ slumped in his seat and just kept slumping until his occipital bone rested against the back of the bench. Bad posture, he'd have to pay for later. His coffee was his heater and shield. The sky was safe to look at. Couldn't be accused of being a pervert if he kept his eyes on the sky. He just wanted to be able to hear the vital sounds of life: kids playing, cars on the street. Normal stuff.

"You look like you could use some Timbits." AJ motioned absently to one of the bags hoping to pawn some off on the mum. Kids loved 'em, right? Maybe he'd give both bags away.

Kevin was having a grand old time, Lee saw as she relaxed on the bench. The quiet time to enjoy her coffee was pretty awesome too, she couldn't help but think as she took a sip. Things had definitely been more hectic, more crazy, than she had been used to in the last few years, so this chance to relax was nice. Not that simply moving was that crazy compared to how her life had been at one time, but Lee had gotten rather comfortable with mundane after moving back to Canada.

Taking another sip of warm caffeine, Lee watched her son as he talked with another child. Bonus, Lee thought. That'll buy me another couple minutes.

"You look like you could use some Timbits."

Lee jumped in surprise. She hadn't felt anyone come near her, yet the voice sounded incredibly close. She was going to have to pay better attention to her siphoning, this was New York after all, Lee realized as she looked over to see a man sitting on the other end of the bench, staring up at the sky. But his words did cause a slight smile to curve her lips. ”Too bad there's no Tim’s here,” Lee replied even as she saw the man gesture to a couple bags that were sitting on the bench between them.

A man who, even as she was looking at him, she couldn't sense with her siphoning.

Automatically, nervously, Lee's eyes darted over to Kevin, who was still busy playing, the smile sliding of her face, before turning back to the man beside her on the bench. She could still feel the energy of the children playing, as well as from the various parents and nannies scattered around, but not from this man.

It was very odd, to say the least. But if he was adapted, Lee realized, his field couldn't be very big, the bench wasn't that long, after all. Still, Lee stepped up her siphoning; if something ended up happening, Lee was going to make damn sure that she could get her son out of there.

He hadn't been paying close enough attention and he'd let his Canadian show. "Sorry. Doughnut holes." Talk about sounding like a pervert… But she’d known what Timbits were and countered with special, secret Canadian knowledge. Not that he was surprised that she was Canadian. The border was close and she probably could have started speaking Russian and he wouldn’t have been surprised. It seemed like no one in New York was actually from New York.

"Ah. Another Canadian, eh?”

He didn't feel like himself, somehow. AJ pulled himself up out of his sulk and tugged his uniform straight. She looked spooked. Or maybe it was back to the potential pervert thing. His training kicked in and he scanned her once over to be sure she wasn’t having a stroke or something, but, no… probably not.

"You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

The man corrected himself immediately, what American would know what timbits were, after all. Something that took the man after few moments to realize that she actually knew what he was talking about. ”Yup, just moved back down,” Lee said, continuing to glance warily at the man. If it was him, if he were adapted, at least his face field was small. She was still able to siphon from the other people in the park, just… Not him.

But then he asked if she was ok. Lee blinked. She hadn't thought he unease was that obvious. But then after Anton…

The question was, what to say? He might not even know, Jacen had only discovered it shortly before she had literally run into him, after all.

”Just a little on edge” Lee said, deciding to settle on the truth. ”Adapteds tend to do that to me.”

Adapteds? Was that some kind of religion or something? AJ looked down at himself looking for whatever had tipped her off to him being something that he was pretty sure he was not. He was still in uniform, entirely rumpled but not blood spattered or anything gory. He was clearly at the end of a shift and out here in the early hours. Maybe she meant night-adapted? She must have known what it was like to work nights and grow accustomed to the weirdness of living a life that was shifted from the rest of the continent's sleep schedule.

Except she'd hinted that the night shift was creepy to her... or something.

"I didn't realize it was that obvious..." Or maybe she was on drugs. Was her kid out there? Was this a call CPS moment? AJ tried to check her pupils on the sly, but there wasn't anything obvious from a medical stand-point. She was just talking crazy. "I mean, even us adapteds have to keep on living, yeah?"

The man didn't answer at first, just sat there in silence. And since she couldn't feel him there on the bench, Lee's eyes kept darting over nervously, wanting to make sure where he was. That he hadn't moved or gotten closer.

No he hadn't. But he seemed to be eyeing her in a similar way, which just set Lee more on edge.

But then he spoke, and all Lee could do for a few moments was stare at him. No, it wasn't obvious, unless one was a mutant trying to use powers that had been nullified.

”You don't even know, don't you?” Lee asked, looking at the man carefully. Mentally measuring the distance. It was quite small, Lee realized. She couldn't even be in his field yet, since she was still able to siphon from others.

A quick glance to make sure that Kevin was alright, and Lee's were back on the man. ”That does make sense, considering how small your field seems to be.

“You're the adapted,” Lee continued. ”You're cancelling out my mutation.i can't feel, or sense, whatever you want to call it, you sitting there.”

> ”You don't even know, don't you?”

That was a loaded question if AJ had ever heard one. How could he know what he didn't know? Or was his confusion telling enough in this situation? She seemed to be thinking about it, or perhaps she was thinking about how best to break "it" to him. Whatever 'it' was, his heart rate was spiking and he was now on alert. What did this stranger know about him that he did not?

And she sure took her time with it, checking on her child's welfare and mumbling about AJ's field.

> “You're the adapted,”

"Yeah." So far he thought he was following, but if she didn't spit it out already, AJ was going to pop like a water balloon squeezed too tight.

> ”You're cancelling out my mutation. I can't feel, or sense, whatever you want to call it, you sitting there.”

Oh.

What?

"Look. Lady, if you're having mutational troubles, you can't just go around blaming people for that." And she certainly did not deserve his graciously offered TimBi— Doughnut holes. "Sorry, but if you think I'm messing with the voodoo that you do, you got the wrong guy. I'm not doing anything to you." And he ate a doughnut hole. It was super saccharine sweet and puffy light pastry and little tiny flakes of sugar were probably littering his beard. He found that he did not care one bit. It was just that delicious.

And then the man got defensive, claiming that any problems she was having were not because of him. ”No, my powers are working just fine,” Lee replied softly. About then, she felt someone behind them. Not turning, in fact making sure to keep her eyes straight forward, Lee concentrated for a moment. ”There’s someone behind us, walking that way,” Lee continued, pointing to the left. ”About 8, no, closer to 9 or 10 feet back. Take a look, see if I’m right.”

Lee paused a few moments, looking over to watch Kevin play while alternatingly darting her eyes to look sideways so she could see where the man was. ”I can feel the energy of everyone in the area,” Lee continued after a minute, finally looking back over at the man. ”But you, I can’t feel. With how close we are, your field must be small, but if I were to get closer, I wouldn’t be able to use my mutation at all.”

He didn’t believe her. Well, really, why should he? She was a stranger who had started spouting off about him cancelling out her mutation. This must have been how weird it was when Jacen had found out all those years ago.

”You’re not the first adapted I’ve met,” Lee went on to explain. ”But from what I’ve been told, adapteds don’t feel it, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are one.”

AJ checked and... yeah. There was a person. He held up his hand in silent greeting. The guy looked confused, but returned the gesture as he walked on toward the basketball court.

So. Maybe he was a real guy then, if he could see and respond to AJ and Ms. See-it-all wasn't even looking.

Ahhhh mutants had him all twisted around about what was real or not. Besides, if her power was working as intended, why was she complaining? AJ horked down another dough ball, this one was less puffy and more cakey. Man, now that he'd started in on these, maybe he would eat them all. AJ turned back to the playground and watched what looked like a 'let's play house' moment. Kid were hilarious.

"Cool party trick." Mildly creepy, too, but he knew enough to keep that part to himself.

> ”I can feel the energy of everyone in the area... But you, I can’t feel."

It felt like a declaration from an oracle and weighed heavy on his shoulders. She made a compelling argument. And the whole idea made a lot of things make a lot of sense, suddenly. Assuming this know-it-all really did know more than she should and was right... what did that mean, exactly?

He hesitated with a doughnut hole mere centimeters away from his lips.

"So... how do I turn it off?" She had all the answers, right? He popped in another sugary treat. It really cut the black coffee he had.

Finally glancing over at the man, Lee could tell by the look on his face that she had been right about where the person walking behind them was. But she shrugged at his words. ”If you say so,” Lee replied nonchalantly. ”It's just a way I've found to make what I'm stuck living with useful.” though it certainly wasn't the only way, but it could be very useful.

And then he asked the big question. Lee have him a sad smile. ”You don't,” she said softly. ”Just like I can't turn my powers off. But it doesn't actually affect you, just mutants who get close to you.”

Eyes darting again, taking a look at Kevin playing before moving quickly back to the man beside her, Lee realized how paranoid she was starting to act. Shaking her head at herself, Lee turned her eyes to the man with the fake Timbits. ”Sorry, the last adapted I ran into kidnapped me, so the idea of not having access to my powers, especially with my son here, has me on guard.”

It was difficult to focus on what she was saying even though he knew it was important. He should be asking questions, but AJ was stuck re-examining all those "magic touch" moments. How some things just stopped or moved aside for him.

The girl who oozed radiation. It had stopped because he'd been close. Maybe she knew. Maybe that's why she begged him to stick around. The fire at the bookstore? Mutant made. That made sense now. He wasn't uncannily lucky. Or #blessed, or apparently not even that special since this woman had known more like him.

And he couldn't turn it off, according to Ms. Mutant. It was just the weirdest thing to wrap his head around. Going into the medical field, he had the inside access on genetic testing. He knew a long time ago that he had no x-gene and had resigned himself to not being special.

Now he had this... thing. This inconvenience that would bring him to the attention of any mutant with extra senses.

It wouldn't really affect him. Except that it would. He wouldn't ever just fade into the background. What if the mutation had adapted to keep a mutant alive? The sugar was forming an uncomfortable lump in his stomach. Those three crashes today... were they mutants? Had he somehow cut off their ability to keep living?

She apologised and AJ shook his head. The lives of mutants were rife with stories like hers. He didn't expect his life to change any now that he knew his "magic touch" was a nullification field. Maybe that was naive.

"I heal people. Not hurt them." He hoped the EMS uniform was enough to explain that and he hoped beyond hope that it was actually true. "Besides. Most people don't have powers to fall back on." He felt rather numb on the subject. "What about her? What's she supposed to do if someone tries to kidnap her or her son?" He pointed across the way at a mom or nanny who was helping a kid un-faceplant from the pea gravel.

When he said that he healed people, not harmed them, Lee actually took a good look at the man and noticed for the first time that he was wearing an EMS uniform. So yeah, he did heal rather than harm, at least while on the job.

Lee shook her head at that thought. There was no need to go there, after all. She’d only met one adapted whom she hadn’t liked, for obvious reasons. All the other adapteds she’d met, not that there had been that many, had all been at least somewhat friendly. Lee was just letting her nerves from being back in New York be bolstered by the unease of being near an adapted.
Then he asked how another random woman at the park would have fared had it been her that was kidnapped by Anton instead. Looking over at the woman the man had indicated, Lee frowned.

”Honestly,” she finally said, her voice low so that no one further away than her benchmate would be able to hear. ”In that particular situation, she probably would have stood a better chance than I did. In fact, horrible as it is to think about, each and every one of those kids out there playing would have had a better chance of escaping than I did, because at least they would have still have had the energy to be able to walk after two days.”

Taking a deep breath, Lee turned to look back over at the man she was sitting beside her. ”Maybe we should actually know each other’s names since we’re apparently learning so many other things. I’m Lee.”

The term 'double-edged' came to mind. Still, what she said felt like an overegaguration. Surely it was. He comforted himself with that platitude. That he wouldn't be the reason this woman died today just because he was something he hadn't realized existed two minutes ago.

"Lee is a lovely name." He set his doughnut holes aside. They were a poor comfort. "I'm AJ. I'd shake your hand, but..." Well, he didn't want to cripple her or whatever. He'd come here to cheer up. It wasn't really working.

"Anything else I need to know? Does it... get worse? Or something?"

Lee smiled when she heard the man comment on her name. But the smile didn’t last very long after he told her his own name. ”But what?” Lee asked, a crease between her brows as she looked over at AJ. Then her frown became more pronounced as she continued, though her tone stayed low. ”Is it that you don’t want to touch me because I’m a mutant?” Not that that would be too surprising, Lee had met plenty of people like that over the years.

And then AJ continued, and the frown stayed on Lee’s face, though this time it was in confusion. ”What do you mean ‘does it get worse’? I mean, I don’t think so, I’m pretty sure that an adapted’s field is always the same.”